Simon
When you get more used to the joys of procedural workflows you will see the benefits too I hope.

Who said that I don't do so?

McNistor
For the sake of moving the discussion forward I propose a similar tool [youtube.com] in Houdini.

How important is the tweak tool to the workflow of SI? i.e. if you took away it away how much slower is it to work in SI.

Thanks!

Korny Klown2

Simon
When you get more used to the joys of procedural workflows you will see the benefits too I hope.

Who said that I don't do so?

You did :wink:

Complexity and fine detail is not what procedual workflows are aimed at

Simon

Korny Klown2
Who said that I don't do so?

You did :wink:

Complexity and fine detail is not what procedual workflows are aimed at

Well, I don't wanna mess up McNistors thread with that kind of discussion so…no comment.

MartybNz
How important is the tweak tool to the workflow of SI? i.e. if you took away it away how much slower is it to work in SI.

Thanks!

Well, I'm assuming we're talking about “matter of degree” since no has ever measured that, so in that light, let's just say that there's no modeling session I do in Softimage without using it. It's great for its capability to move points in reference to an edge (or poly or point) by MMB on it and lots of other stuff.
You saw the video.
AFAIK, every XSI modeler uses it extensively.

i remember when they're isn't tweak tool in xsi… i must admit the workflow then was also great, thanks to sticky keys for move/rotate/scale and CTRL for snapping, some additionnal click for sure but not so much.
I'm pointing here the fact tools and a working workflow where here before this tool.

NNois
i rembers when they're isn't tweak tool in xsi… i must admit the workflow then was also great, thanks to sticky keys for move/rotate/scale and alt for snapping, some additionnal click for sure but not so much.
I'm pointing here the fact tools and a working workflow where here before this tool.

small correction: ctrl for snapping

I agree, without it, XSI would still be amazing for poly modeling

After spending some time in Houdini viewport I have to confess that the ‘b’ key is not a great solution and that's mainly because it's dependent on the view tool which makes it so that I have to space+b every time I have another tool activated.
Best would be to disconnect it from the view tool and assign an independet key. Again Esc key would be a handy one since it's used for something that soon (if transient keys are implemented) will be possible to activate just be tapping space.

Another time saver during workflow would be translate, rotate and scale without having to actually click exactly on the gizmo's.

In Softimage and Maya you select the object and then hit translate. If you middle mouse click anywhere in the viewport and drag in the direction of a specific axis, it will constrain in that direction…a huge time saver when having your mouse close to the border between Network view and viewport.

Currently left and middle mouse does the same in Houdini when selecting and manipulating objects. It would be grate to have this functionality on middle mouse to constrain anywhere in the viewport.

I will do a screen capture if my explanation was bad.

Let me know if this request was unclear.

No, no, it was clear. I'm pretty sure SESI will implement this at some point.

Here's a bit of food for thought, for both Houdini veterans as well as other apps newcomers:

selections have been discussed ad nauseam and for good reasons. There are a lot of things to be considered when talking about selections which is at the foundation of a viewport centered workflow which is the case for modelers and animators (and for rendering and rigging folks too, but less so).

Another interesting concept Softimage users benefit from and which I didn't find in Max/Maya/C4D (things might've changed last time I've checked) is mixing a component activation with a selection mode in a single shortcut.

component activation = entering in point/edge/poly mode
selection mode = box/lasso/brush picking

Example: entering in poly mode in Houdini requires tapping ‘4’ key. Switching between box or lasso or brush is another action which, AFAIK, you can't do without using the mouse since there's not possible to assign a hotkey. Might be wrong, so please correct me on this if that's the case.
A combo would allow the user to hit a key for poly+box and another for poly+lasso.
In Softimage hitting ‘U’ key will active poly mode in raycast selection mode. Hitting ‘Y’ would activate poly mode in rectangle mode.
For edges there are also two keys: ‘I’ for raycast mode and ‘E’ for rectangle mode.
This is tremendously helpful for one doesn't have to go through addition steps for switch selection tools as well as different components modes (poly/edge/point).

I invite you to discuss about this, whether it's currently possible in Houdini (and how) or not and if not, how should this be approached in Houdini.

Most function keys (F1-F10) seem unassigned in Houdini so this might be an option, however the first thought it occured to me is this:
since point/edge/poly is accessed via 2/3/4 keys I propose that these keys once pressed not only activates their respective component, but also sets the selection mode to rectangle picking.
Shift+2/3/4 would activate their correspondent components in a “raycast” mode to be implemented in a future version.

box/lasso/brush/future raycast assigned to a few function keys (F5,F6,F7,F8 for example) would allow to change the selection mode w/o changing the active component.
What do you think?

dont forget this “houdini volume modeling”
wala!
in combination volume modeling + sculp modeling. the future of modeling.

McNistor
Example: entering in poly mode in Houdini requires tapping ‘4’ key. Switching between box or lasso or brush is another action which, AFAIK, you can't do without using the mouse since there's not possible to assign a hotkey. Might be wrong, so please correct me on this if that's the case.

you can assign a hotkey to that at /Houdini/Panes/Geometry Viewers -> “SELECT TOOL CYCLE”

dont forget this “houdini volume modeling”

i'd also love to see more in the volume sculpting.

Doudini
you can assign a hotkey to that at /Houdini/Panes/Geometry Viewers -> “SELECT TOOL CYCLE”

If that does exactly what is says it does it's pretty useless for someone that needs to switch between two modes.

chevita.
dont forget this “houdini volume modeling”
wala!
in combination volume modeling + sculp modeling. the future of modeling.

If we had a decent quad remesh node that type of modeling would be close to viable, would just need a nice clean and procedural way to get good UVs.

McNistor
Another interesting concept Softimage users benefit from and which I didn't find in Max/Maya/C4D (things might've changed last time I've checked) is mixing a component activation with a selection mode in a single shortcut.
…
In Softimage hitting ‘U’ key will active poly mode in raycast selection mode. Hitting ‘Y’ would activate poly mode in rectangle mode.
For edges there are also two keys: ‘I’ for raycast mode and ‘E’ for rectangle mode.
This is tremendously helpful for one doesn't have to go through addition steps for switch selection tools as well as different components modes (poly/edge/point).

I'm someone who is not a big fan of shortcuts all across the keyboard so I would like to suggest my version of that.
On page 17 I already suggested what I call, just as a placeholder, the quickselect RMB-menu. Building up on that, what do you think of various Alt-Ctrl-Shift combination when choosing one of the components of that list.
Let's say LMB is alway rectangle mode, LMB+Ctrl is always lasso mode and LMB+Ctrl+Alt is always raycast mode.
So:
LMB on points = point selection in rectangle mode
LMB+Ctrl on points = point selection in lasso mode
LMB+Ctrl on edges = edge selection in lasso mode
and so on…

This way you can cover all kinds of modes and components without dancing all across the keyboard and having everything right at your fingertips.

ctrl and shift are used for adding/removing to/from selection. alt might also be used as a modifier key in the future.
So far one key for a selection mode + component combo seems the best solution. Might be other better ones but what you proposed is not so we need to come up with smth. else.

No, what I meant was to call the RMB-menu I suggested earlier (for me it's on page 17 I guess) and then Alt-Ctrl-Shift cominations on the component entries in the list (points, edges, prims).

chevita.
dont forget this “houdini volume modeling”
wala!
in combination volume modeling + sculp modeling. the future of modeling.

This actually a far more interesting approach than I initially thought.

Have you seen ShapeShop? [shapeshop3d.com]

The program is available for download, it's not the most stable software but the ideas behind it are solid. There's also been some extension of this modeling paradigm to include curve based editing:
Warp Curves [webhome.csc.uvic.ca]

After doing a lot of reading it seems like Volumetric and implicit modeling technologies are much more suited towards non-destruction and proceduralism than polygons and Subd's will ever be.

I'm having a hard time with the Polyknit tool. Having used the create poly tool in Softimage I really think this is another modeling tool than needs attention.

Have a look at this and let me know what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stoCSMa_E_A [youtube.com]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg_xSCyqAwY [youtube.com]

Werner, the polyknit subject has been discussed, but that doesn't mean your feedback about various tools isn't welcome. If anything, it will support my points and make them even stronger.